With someone travelling in those areas and dropping out of contact, it's natural to assume the worst, so I think your first question, what other reasonable explanations are there, is an apt one. She seems like a really smart cookie, so she probably has good sense to stay out of bad danger. There's a host of reasons why she might not have been in contact. Perhaps she hasn't been around a computer? She might be out in a remote region where there's no internet connection.

I don't want to be morbid here, only to assuage you, but if some terror cell or something took her hostage or harmed her, they would want to let everyone in the world know about it.

You say your sis likes to travel solo, is there a chance that she met up with other backpackers over there and may be traveling with one of them?

Back to my original point-- we assume the worst to emotionally prepare ourselves for if it actually happens. You yourself say she's no fool! It's far more likely that she's without internet or that her emails cannot get through than something bad happened to her, but your worry is certainly understandable. Needless to say though, abductions and things like that don't happen with the frequency that we would think they do over there.

Diplomatic relationships with Syria

Hey I think whoever you talked to gave you wrong info.... there is an Canadian embassy in Damascus and they should be able to help you... How do u know she made it out of Syria, if she has not let me know

Re: Diplomatic relationships with Syria

you can be sure that the Syriam authorities know a lot of stuff and their police rule. my advice is don't stop the pressure on the officials, nothing happens in Syria without the knowledge of the authorities.